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All American Five

The term All American Five (abbreviated AA5) is a colloquial name for mass-produced, superheterodyne radio receivers that used five vacuum tubes in their design. These radio sets were designed to receive amplitude modulation (AM) broadcasts in the medium wave band, and were manufactured in the United States from the mid-1930s until the early 1960s.[1][2] By eliminating a power transformer, cost of the units was kept low; the same principle was later applied to television receivers. Variations in the design for lower cost, shortwave bands, better performance or special power supplies existed, although many sets used an identical set of vacuum tubes.

The Philco PT-44 is an example of the All American Five radio set. This set deviates from the more usual AA5 in that it features an Octode mixer, though it still operates on the pentagrid principle.[3]
Placard showing the tube placement. This set would have required an additional series resistor in the heater chain as the tube heater voltages do not sum to 115 volts.
Back view of the chassis. The compact design is aided by putting both IF transformers in a single can.
Five tube AM radio demonstrator of the single ended tube variant described below. Note "Do not ground" safety warning.
  1. ^ "History of the AA5 (All American 5ive) AM tube radio". Wa2ise. Archived from the original on 2017-04-24. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  2. ^ Richard McWhorter, The All American Five Radio: Understanding and Restoring Transformerless Radios of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, Sonoran Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1886606196,, page v.
  3. ^ Octode converter frank.pocnet.net
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